The goals of the proposed research are to advance quality improvement and practice based research in Neurology using the electronic medical record (EMR). The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has published evidence-based guidelines, quality improvement measures, and resources for several neurological disorders. However, the AAN guidelines and measures have not been implemented routinely and benchmark data are lacking. There are few EMR tools available to standardize neurology office visits according to Best Practices, to provide alerts when neurological care is deviating from AAN guidelines, to capture data regarding adherence to AAN or other quality parameters, to measure the effects of compliance with guidelines on outcomes, or to share longitudinal data and to compare effectiveness of care across neurological practices. The Department of Neurology at NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) has built into its commercial EMR Epic structured clinical documentation support (SCDS) and clinical decision support (CDS) tools that standardize care, write progress notes, and capture up to 1,000 discreet and cascading fields of neurological data per office visit. However, these EMR tools have not been disseminated for use by other Neurology practices or for data sharing, and presently do not support clinical trials. Pragmatic trials using EMRs would enable comparisons of treatments at the point of care. To address gaps in quality improvement and practice based research in Neurology, we are proposing to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) a project with the specific aims: 1) To create a Neurology Practice Based Research Network (NPBRN). The NorthShore site will share SCDS and CDS tools for 10 common neurological disorders (brain tumors, epilepsy, migraine, mild cognitive impairment, mild traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, neuropathy, Parkinson's disease, restless legs syndrome, and stroke) with seven other Department of Neurology that also use the Epic EMR platform (eight sites total). 2) To conduct at NorthShore pragmatic trials using the EMR for 10 common neurological disorders. We will demonstrate the feasibility of subgroup based adaptive assignment of treatments, electronic consenting, and outcomes data capture at the point of care using the EMR. We will identify the most effective treatments for common neurological disorders and seek replication by the NPBRN.
Our aims are innovative because we will use the EMR to hardwire quality and outcomes research in Neurology. We will individualize medicine at the point of care by conducting pragmatic trials using subgroup based adaptive designs, comparing the effectiveness of available treatments for common neurological disorders.
Our aims are significant because we are studying several neurological disorders, a leading cause of healthcare burden worldwide. We will create a national practice based network to improve health care quality by accelerating implementation of patient-centered outcomes research in Neurology using the EMR, and evidence to make health care safer and to improve health care efficiency.
The proposed project has public health significance because we are studying several neurological disorders, recognized as a leading cause of healthcare burden worldwide. We will create a national network for quality improvement and practice based patient-centered outcomes research in Neurology using the electronic medical record (EMR) to make health care safer and to improve healthcare efficiency, in keeping with the mission and priority areas of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. We will conduct pragmatic trials using the EMR and subgroup-based adaptive design tools that determine which treatments are most effective for specific patients, individualizing medicine at the point of care.
